Conference
by statefarmsnake
Summary: Brandywine had never fully satisfied with his job as a Canister Design professor. He wishes that he could find something that could spice up his life a bit more... like Professor Knight. His life is so much better as a scare professor. Though... does he like the professor or the profession more? Brandywine x Knight shipping lies ahead!


Conference

Professor Brandywine was never one for the teacher conferences, especially the one that only involved his particular department in Can Design. He wasn't entirely oblivious. He knew that the subject was boring and was only taken by students who didn't want to end up jobless, homeless, among other things. He even knew that he, himself, was a boring teacher. But what did anyone expect? He signed on to be a scare teacher.

"But who would want to take a scare class if the professor didn't even look scary in the first place? That was Dean Hardscrabble on his last day of teaching Scaring 101. He was sworn into the next possible needed position… so it was either Can Design lecturer or a janitor. Both were equally jarring.

So here he was, in a conference where they discussed the same exact thing they did every time: how do they make the major more exciting? They got nowhere. They never did. They were all older after all, Brandywine being the youngest. How were they supposed to understand what a student wants or how to relate to them?

But it wasn't all that bad, and Brandywine like the university-wide conferences much better. He was often the representative for Can Design, though they generally don't look for his input much, nor did he make an effort to speak much.

People just think he's soft-spoken when he's teaching, and he is, but that wasn't the reason for his lack of input in these conferences. In reality, he was too busy looking over at Professor Knight. He was often the star of the show since all of the students loved him, and Brandywine knew exactly why. He really knew and loved his job, and he had a way with relating with the students. Brandywine looked up to him so much, and he practically considered him to be his best friend.

Or perhaps more than a best friend, Brandywine would sometimes think in the back of his mind. He would normally shake off those kinds of thoughts, but Brandywine didn't want to this time. He wanted to feel a little more… alive at Monsters University. He knew that having a person like Knight at his side would be the first step to doing that.

The conference went as usual. A couple of questions were asked, then input was… inputted. It was never particularly interesting, but it was the teachers' chance to express their concerns.

'I have a concern,' Brandywine said. 'I have strange feelings for a professor sitting at this table. Give me your input.'

Brandywine's Mind 1 raised his hand. 'Maybe you're just crazy.'

Brandywine nodded. 'Maybe I am.'

Brandywine's Mind 2 raised her hand. 'Ever considered actually doing something about it?'

Brandywine stood still. "Any ideas?"

Brandywine's Mind 3 shrugged its imaginary shoulders. 'You're asking your own mind for advice. Something tells me you already know what to do.'

Brandywine's Mind 1 crossed his imaginary arms. 'Maybe you _are_ just crazy.'

"Yes… but the good kind of crazy," Brandywine assured them.

Brandywine's personal mindscape disappeared, and both the imaginary and real conference were over. He sighed and lowered his briefcase, watching as all of the teachers left. Thankfully, Knight stuck around to talk to the rest of his colleagues, giving Brandywine the time to think of his next move. But mainly for him to bring up the courage to do something in the first place. He was a scarer once for goodness sake. Where did all of that courage go?

Brandywine let out a heavy sigh and finally walked forward, waiting eagerly for Knight to finish his little mini-conversation with Professor Cauderwall. Professor Cauderwall left, waving to the both of them, before Knight returned to his belongings and packing everything up.

"You kept things together today," Brandywine said. "Those professors don't know the kinds of things that you do, Derek."

Knight smirked. "It's nothing, Willian. A lot of new faculty after a several people left all at once. It's all about managing the chaos."

"Yes, but you do it… well." Brandywine was simply having trouble finding the words, but Knight didn't pay much attention. He was also under the impression that Brandywine was entirely soft-spoken. Didn't have much to say. "Derek."

"Yes?" Derek asked as he closed his briefcase.

"Would you like to go to dinner one of these nights? Maybe this weekend?"

"Dinner? This weekend?" Derek asked. He was a bit confused, wondering what the implications were, but he shook the thought. "Hm… I guess I'm not dealing with anything major school-related. Besides, I should probably get some relaxation in before finals start."

"It won't be… anything special," Willian lied. "But I can pick you up on Saturday at 6."

"Saturday at 6 sounds fine," Derek said as he grabbed his things. "Is there anything else you wanted to talk to me about, William? You actually look a little uncomfortable."

"No," William said. "It's just been a long day. It's hard to teach a class where more than half of the students don't want to come."

"I don't envy your position," Derek said with a slight chuckle. "But you'll get used to it." He patted William's arm before saying. "I know you want to be a scare professor, but Abigail's words are final… I know that's terrible."

"Don't worry about me, Derek," William said.

Derek nodded. "Alright, then. I'll see you on Saturday, then. Have a good day." He left the building with his bag and briefcase.

William Brandywine simply stood there as Derek left the conference room, though the tiniest smile donned on him, though it wasn't very noticeable underneath the immense bushels of hair. He grabbed his own things and left the conference room.

He returned to his apartment where he did his normal routine. Eat some dinner, grade some papers, write some lectures, watch some TV. Though, now his apartment didn't seem quite so empty. He began imagining what it would be like to do all of those things except with someone there talking to him. Telling him about their day with him responding with just a few words like he would with anyone else. He did the exact same thing when he lived with his parents, and later with his brother. With him living on his own, he craved for it again.

But he wanted to feel like he earned it. And with the right person, too. Someone who actually cared about him.

So after doing his normal thing and running out of "romantic" thoughts, Brandywine felt it was time to get some shut-eye. After all, he had a wonderful date ahead of him tomorrow, and he didn't want to be tired for it.

The following morning was bland like always. One cup of coffee, two, three. It was professors' beer, and he was no different. Even on a weekend. More papers to grade and more TV to watch. This was going to be a LONG day waiting for the evening to come.

However, eventually the evening did come. William looked inside his closet to figure out what to wear. Only a few nice shirts that he sometimes wore to work, but there were several bowties on display. He grabbed a nice red bowtie that he didn't wear often. It didn't match his fur amazingly, but it was something different, so he figured it was worth shot. It wasn't a date, right? No need to worry about looking perfect, right?

… No, go with the blue bowtie. It's better. Why look bad for your friends?

William looked at himself in the mirror before deeming himself as good enough for the "date". He sighed and grabbed his coat before walking out of his apartment. He walked slowly, actually feeling a bit paranoid about arriving early. Though, as he did so, it gave him the chance to think. To think about things that he wouldn't normally think about. A future. A future that didn't sound entirely boring and involved something other than just working at Monsters University as the biggest fallback major professor in existence.

A future that was actually… exciting.

Brandywine couldn't help but smile at the thought of being with Knight one day. Though… he didn't want to get his own hopes up. As of that point, he and Derek were only friends. Colleagues, really.

William finally made it to the restaurant after walking roughly a mile to get there and was thankfully greeted by Derek who had arrived shortly before him. "Well, I was wondering when you were going to show up, William. I figured that you were just going to stand me up."

"I would never do that to you, Derek," he said in a slow voice.

"Well, maybe not, but things happen," Derek said before letting out a small chuckle. "I already got a table for the both of us. Come with me."

William nodded and began to follow Derek into the restaurant. It was a well-known restaurant. Good service, good food, and good ambiance, but it was far too expensive, so it was unlikely that any students or professor would be there. At least, not on a regular basis.

Though… William chose it for obvious reasons.

As they sat down, Derek smiled at William. "Well, I must say that I appreciate you taking me to a place like this, William. Either go big or go home with you, huh?"

"I appreciate simple things, but I'm willing to spend more for the extra stuff," William said.

Derek nodded. "I understand that concept perfectly. I just wish we could do this more often, though you can't really do much on a professor's salary. Even with tenure!"

"I figured you would be paid more with how well you do your job," William responded, placing his hands on the table. "Your students and Abigail seem to like you."

Derek chuckled a little bit. "Thank you for the flattery, but I'm really not that amazing. I just teach the students what I know and they slowly blossom under me and Abigail's care. And it helps that they have the drive to be amazing scarers. Although you don't have the most exciting major under your belt, I'm certain you have students who are exactly the same way."

"One or two students a semester are like that," William responded.

Derek nodded. "Exactly." He looked away for a moment and then back to William. There was an awkward silence between the two, and Derek knew that he would have to keep up a conversation with someone who was so soft-spoken (though William was trying his best). "So, speaking of your major, how is it treating you? I know you're not particularly fond of it yourself, but I'm just curious."

"I like it more than I used to," William said honestly. "Though, the main issue is that we can never encourage the students to want to learn more about canister design. They'd rather be door designers or scarers."

Derek nodded. "Yes, yes… it isn't exactly the most needed job in the monster world, but it is absolutely necessary. And there's going to be some genius out there that increases scream output using a more efficient canister design. And you're the one who is going to lead them there."

"I guess that's one way of looking at it," William said, though he didn't really think that way most of the time.

Derek sighed. He really did feel for William's predicament, though he didn't feel terribly bad about it. He _loved_ his job as a scare professor. Seeing the look on a monster's face as they belch out a huge roar was what made his job so meaningful. And William lost all of that. "Listen… I know it's rough. But… perhaps Abigail will change her mind one day and give you your job back. I think you're deserving of it."

"Thank you, Derek," Brandywine said, a very faint smile growing on his face. "I don't think that's going to happen, but I appreciate the sentiment."

"I actually mean it," Derek said. He looked down at the table. There was clearly something on his mind and William wished he knew what it was. "Listen… Willaim. Can I be honest with you?"

"Yes," William said bluntly. He was afraid of what Derek could possible say to him, but then he figured… why delay it?"

"When you first asked me to dinner, I figured it would just be a thing between two colleagues," Derek said. "But in the past few hours, I figured that there was something bigger than that. I was wondering… was this supposed to be a date?"

William waited and thought for a moment. His secret was out and his heart was beginning to pump faster and faster. He wanted to be honest with him, but he couldn't find the words for that. "Did you… want it to be a date?"

"I asked you first," Derek said.

"My answer is contingent on your answer," William said.

"Well, what was your original intent?" Derek asked.

"Tell me your answer first!" William exclaimed, a little louder than he normally was.

"Perhaps!" Derek exclaimed.

"Then… yes," William said back. "Yes, this is supposed to be a date."


End file.
